Audiphone for deaf mutes



Oct. 22, 1935. Y. HOSHINO ET AL AUDIPHONE FOR DEAF MUTES Filed May 12, 1954 INVENTORS;

ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE babadori, Nakakyo-Ku,

Kyoto, and Iwao Ogushi, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo, Japan Application May 12, 1934, Serial No. 725,268 In Japan October 21, 1933 3 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for assisting the deaf to hear their own voice and the voices of other people; and for use in training deafmutes to speak.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus of the kind in which tooth conduction is utilized in transmitting sound waves to the auditory nerve center without resorting to the tympanic membrane, and for assisting the user not only to hear the voices of other people but also his own utterances even when the teeth are moved and thereby to improve the education of deaf-mutes and assist people who have difilculty in hearing.

The apparatus according to the invention comprises a transmitter in the form of a vibratory plate or diaphragm arranged inside a casing provided with a mouthpiece. It also comprises a conducting rod which passes through the mouthpiece, and one end of which is attached to the vibratory plate or diaphragm and the other end of which is provided, outside the mouthpiece with a spring member. The spring-member is forkshaped and curved at a somewhat obtuse angle to the mouthpiece, being bent either toward the right or the left so that it is adapted to be held between the upper and lower teeth, and to remain in contact with the teeth even when they are moved.

A preferred embodiment of the apparatus in accordance with the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section;

Figure 3 is a perspective view on a larger scale of the part of the apparatus which is held in the mouth; and

Figure 4 is a general illustration showing how the apparatus is used.

The apparatus according to the invention is an improved audiphone so constructed and used as to make it adaptable to people who have utter inability to hear through the tympanic membrane, such as a stone-deaf person.

Referring to the drawing, the apparatus comprises a casing or transmitter 2 having a flared mouthpiece I. Within the casing 2 is fixed a frame 3 which carries a diaphragm or vibratory plate 4 to which is connected one end of a conducting rod 5. The rod 5 is bent in the shape shown in Figure 2 and is supported at the bend by a pin 6. The other end of the rod 5 projects outwardly through the center of the mouthpiece I from the bend 6 and the projecting end is formed as, or provided with, a fork-shaped spring I which is adapted to be held between the teeth. The fork I is bent at a' somewhat obtuse angle to the conducting rod 5 either to the right or to the left; or, as in Figure 2, either forward or backward.

In using the apparatus, the fork I is placed in the mouth so as to be in contact with the upper and lower teeth, as shown in Figure 3. Owing to its springiness, the fork 1 will remain in contact with the upper and lower teeth even when the teeth are moved in speaking, and there is no danger of its becoming loose. When the fork is held in the teeth, the mouth is opposed to the mouthpiece I and the sound waves or vibrations produced by the user will cause the vibratory diaphragm l to vibrate, and its vibrations will be transmitted back by the conducting rod 5 to the fork I and thence to the teeth, from which they will be re-transmitted by teeth conduction to the skull, and thence to the auditory nerve center which will stimulate the auditory sensation and produce the normal sensation of sound and thus enable the user to hear his own utterances.

Two or more of the transmitters 2 may be conveniently connected with each other either mechanically or electrically so that the sound waves pass through each other. For example, a flexible tube 8 is used in the shape as shown in Figure 4, which can be fixed to the transmitter 2 at its rear hole and a suitable microphonic installment may be made wherever convenient between each transmitter.

Subsistent apparatuses of this kind are contrived to assist the user to hear the voice of other people by utilizing tooth conduction and by using conducting rod to be held in the teeth, but in such apparatuses the user can only hear the voices of other people and cannot hear his own utterances, owing to the fact that the rod held in the teeth gets loose every time he tries to utter and move his mouth.

The apparatus according to this invention has the advantage that the speaker can not only hear the voices of other people, but can also hear his own utterances, and, therefore, the apparatus is adapted for educating a deaf-mute of the kind who can make sounds, but not being able to hear them himself, has not learned to make them intelligible. Further, people who have difliculty in hearing are able with the aid of the apparatus to hear not only the voices of other people but also their own voice, and are thus able to engage in conversation which would otherwise be impossible.

Having now fully described this invention what we desire to have protected is:

1. An apparatus for assisting the deal to hear the voices of other people and their own utterances, and for use in educating deai-mutes to speak, comprising a casing, a mouthpiece on said casing, a rod passing through the mouthpiece, a vibratory-diaphragm transmitter, one end of said rod being attached to the vibratory diaphragm and the other end being provided outside the mouthpiece with a resilient member, said resilient member being adapted to be held between the teeth and to remain constantly in contact with them even when they are moved.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the member which is held between the teeth is in the form of a fork of resilient springy material.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the plane of the resilient member is at a somewhat obtuse angle to the axis of the rod and is bent away from the normal. 

